The scientists said they hoped their findings would prompt the government to provide money for cask storage at sites found vulnerable.

Some utilities have built "dry cask storage," concrete and steel casks sitting behind barbed wire near the reactors, and other companies have asked permission to build such casks.

The commission has repeatedly said cask storage and pool storage are equally safe.

At Indian Point, the dry cask storage will involve locking the spent fuel rods in 19-foot-high concrete and steel silos.

Aged used fuel may also be stored in above-ground dry cask storage, in the same manner as the currently operating fleet of U.S. power reactors.

This contains 6375 fuel assemblies and was reported "secured" with a temperature of 55 C. After further cooling, fuel can be transferred to dry cask storage, which has shown no signs of abnormalities.

In December 2008, PG&E finished moving the spent nuclear fuel into dry cask storage on site.

Currently there is no long term permanent storage facility, dry cask storage is designed as an interim safer solution than spent pool storage.

Because of delays in construction, a number of nuclear power plants in the United States have resorted to dry cask storage of waste on-site indefinitely in nearly impervious steel and concrete casks.

It should be noted that spent nuclear fuel storage basins pose an enormous risk and hazards, and therefore all unused fuel should be transferred to dry cask storage as soon as possible.